Bomb Blasts Lebanon Refugee Camp

SIDON, Lebanon (AP) _ An explosive went off in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp early Friday, damaging an electronic games shop but causing no casualties, Palestinian officials said.

The blast occurred at around 2 a.m., when there were no people in the narrow streets of the Ein el-Hilweh camp. The camp is on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are more than 50 years old and are virtual towns, complete with shops and businesses.

The motive behind the bombing was not immediately known.

Ein el-Hilweh is run by rival armed Palestinian factions. In recent months, there has been a series of bombings and shootouts in what appears to be a power struggle among the factions.

The rivalry appears to be mostly between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah group, which controls most of the camp, and Muslim extremist Palestinian factions led by Asbat al-Ansar, which is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

The camp also is believed to shelter a number of Islamic militant fugitives wanted by Lebanese authorities for their role in shootings that killed or wounded Lebanese soldiers. The army mans checkpoints outside the camp, but soldiers do not go inside.

Ein el-Hilweh, with a population of about 75,000, is the largest of the 13 Palestinian camps in Lebanon.